1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a technique for determining whether an object is genuine or fake in a Metaverse.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, the number of users of Metaverses has been expanding rapidly. A Metaverse is a three-dimensional virtual world formed as electronic data, such as a virtual world or a massively-multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG). In some recent types of Metaverses, users are allowed to generate objects freely. Generally, users can restrict copying and giving of generated objects. Due to the rareness of these objects, objects, such as avatar clothing and game items, are purchased and sold (by use of virtual world currency or real world currency) in Metaverses. For examples of conventional techniques relating to Metaverses, see Japanese Patent Application Publication Nos. 2005-50081 and 2005-234633.
However, since the objects are pieces of electronic data, unauthorized copies or the like are made in some cases. For example, a malicious user may make a copy of an object existing in a Metaverse in a certain place outside the Metaverse (such as in a storage device in the real world), and bring back the copied object to the Metaverse pretending that the object is an original. Such copying becomes a serious problem particularly in the case where it is important to determine whether the object is genuine or fake (for example, where the object is a luxury brand item or an employee badge in the Metaverse). With the increase in the number of users and contents in Metaverses in the future, it may become increasingly important to be able to determine whether an object is genuine or fake, in order to maintain and improve brand images as well as to assure company security, for example. On the other hand, excessive restriction on users generating objects in Metaverses and on users bringing in objects from outside may inhibit free activities of users, which spoils the merits and pleasure of the Metaverses. The present invention has been made in view of such technical problems, and one object thereof is to provide means for determining whether an object is genuine or fake with a simple system configuration, while assuring users in the Metaverse to freely generate objects and to bring in objects from outside the Metaverse.